I thought this warranted a separate post. I’ll have updates on news articles, etc. on the post below this one, but I wanted to separate Joanne Ivancic’s personal message.
Here message is, indeed, one of victory. I have never met her, as with many Greens, but I am proud of her and her Green Campaign. Here’s Joanne:
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Dear Friends, Family and Supporters:
I wanted to share some interesting news with you–and, since many of you couldn’t make it to the great party we had–my closing remarks.
First, the sad news. We didn’t win a seat on the Board of Alderman. As the published report shows, we got 5% of the total number of votes cast for aldermen (with each voter getting up to 5 votes).
The better news: We got 20% of the voters who voted yesterday to vote for me. Just over 8000 people voted for mayor and 2021 voted for me. That’s more votes than Jennifer Dougherty, a sitting mayor, got in the primary. (And we only spent $1.50 per vote; while the losing mayoral candidate, Ron Young, spent about $30 per vote ( $120,000 total).) We’ll be taking a closer look at the vote totals once the 400 absentee ballots are counted.
We are developing a real party here with a real base. This will continue to be a people-powered effort.
So it is time to celebrate what we have achieved since April when we didn’t even know if we would have a candidate, if we could get on the ballot and when the Green Party was not even a recognized party in the City of Frederick.
We are recognized now, in many positive ways. So, cheer!
Now, bear with me, the following is a bit long. It is important, so please press on.
Closing Statement
As I thought about it, my Victory Speech and Concession Speech became remarkably similar. Because no matter the election result, the Frederick Green Party has created a significant transformation of politics in Frederick.
Unfortunately, the results of this election are not what we hoped. I wish those five who will become our Aldermen all the luck in the world. And I want them to know that they will be seeing more of the Green Party and more of our Wise Use of Resources Solutions during their coming term of office. This transformation of politics will not stop.
Before I thank all the wonderful people who made this campaign possible, I want to talk about what we have accomplished.
The Green Party Campaign for Alderman brought to this election debate thoughts, ideas and proposals for SOLUTIONS that no one else advanced. That is why we started this campaign in the first place. Because so many of us in Frederick were dissatisfied with the other parties. Because the other parties were ignoring substantive problems and issues that require political solutions.
Here are 6 Wise Use of Resources SOLUTIONS that the Green Party-and no one else-brought to the discussion in this election:
” A Development Moratorium until we determine what we can afford in terms of water, traffic, schools and other infrastructure.
” Water Conservation and Reuse; including Green Building Standards to be incorporated into the Building Code. Green Building Standards will not only help us better conserve water, but also reduce waste sent to landfills and give end-users of new construction and rehabilitations energy efficient places to live and work.
” Creating a municipal utility or co-op to install Solar Panels on public buildings and parking garages to reduce energy costs and to bring non-property-tax funds into the City from production of electricity from solar and wind sources.
” A self-sustaining City/homeowner joint shared equity program to enable first-time homeowners to afford the down payment for a home. (Deborah Foshee, city attorney for Covington, Louisiana, who visited a few weeks ago and heard the idea at the Housing Forum has already identified a funding source to make this idea a reality in her town to help them rebuild from hurricane Katrina.)
” An Independent Airport Authority to improve the management of the underperforming Frederick Airport so that it can be a revenue generator for the City rather than a drain for $1 Million in taxpayers money each year.
” A City/County network of biosensors to monitor the environment around Ft. Detrick linked to an early-warning system.
Also, one of the things that made me want to be the Green Party candidate was the promise that the “next generation” would be the key, the foundation of this campaign. Other candidates talk about the “need” (apparently unmet) to involve “youth.” The main engine of this campaign is people under 25. That includes the press officer/campaign co-manager; the petition drive manager; most of the volunteer lit drop brigade; and many supporters.
Regardless of the outcome of this race, I know that the people in this room and the people who supported my candidacy and the people who voted for me, will want to continue to work to bring these ideas to fruition. We have planted the seeds. We are not headed into retirement. We will be here for the next 20 and 50 years. We will nurture these ideas; we will help more people understand them; we will bring them to the Board of Aldermen as proposed legislation; we will make these ideas happen.
And here are some of the people who will help with that. I know that they will because they have put so much time, effort and brain power into this campaign-making it much more a campaign of ideas, a vote for a slate of ideas rather than a slate of people (or person as the case may be).
I’d like you to listen to some stories about this campaign for a few minutes.
First, I must mention two people. The key drivers of the campaign committee. I want both of them to be first: Bob Kozak and Whitney Trettien. Both are absolutely brilliant. Both have other lives, but during this campaign, you would hardly know it. I made a lot of demands, I know and they made everything happen. They made this campaign the key focus of their lives for months – since June. They came up with ideas; they briefed me on them and we worked out the details and the best ways to communicate these ideas to the public. Thank you Bob and Whitney.
I can’t say enough about the quality of this campaign. Any professional campaign staff would not be able to believe what this campaign committee accomplished with so little money.
So, second, I have to thank our early money angel, Deborah Foshee. A close friend for decades, Deborah sent the maximum, $1000, as soon as she heard I was running. That gave us the ability to run a real, professional campaign from the very start. And it enabled us to maintain our integrity. We were not tempted to sell out or change our positions in response to funding pressures. Thank you, Deborah.
Third is a long list of people: Blake Trettien who brought his expertise to our initial petition campaign and then developed expertise in making the fantastic T-shirts you all enjoyed. It seems he’s made close to 100 of these, but I might be exaggerating. Not to mention the shoe leather he put into lit drops or his valuable insights and thoughts as we worked to understand problems and develop solutions. Thank you, Blake.
If this sounds like a family affair, it is. Phyllis Trettien’s belief in the rightness and necessity of this campaign got me to agree to be the Green Party candidate in the first place. She continued to be a foundation-putting on the Announcement party, punching holes and stringing rubberbands into brochures, doing lit drops and putting up with campaign Mess throughout her house for the duration. And doing the behind the scenes work to make this party happen. Thank you, Phyllis.
Speaking of hole punching: Jerry Kessler and Roy Chambers (and their wives I think helped, too) said they weren’t as young and agile as they once were; and they wanted to know what they could do to help. They saved us tons of money by punching holes and stringing rubberbands into our brochures so we could hang them on door handles. Ordering brochures with fancy cuts designed for this is EXPENSIVE-and doesn’t work as well. So thanks to the Chambers and Kessler family efforts, too.
There’s a group who is that age that Jerry and Roy aren’t any more. Lead by Bob Hayes, otherwise fondly known at Petition Bob and debatebob. This group of Jake ____ , Julie Shatto, Ian Becker, Max Phelps and Richard Phillips and maybe some I don’t know, have been racing around on their bicycles, getting petitions signed, doing lit drops, talking to their parents (who can vote, even though this posse can’t) and adding valuable comments to the brainstorming sessions we’ve had-and inviting me to speak to the Young Socialists Club at TJ High School. I really enjoyed that and the discussion with you all contributed to the development of the campaign. I can’t tell you how much I value your participation. I do hope and expect that you will continue to be involved as we make the vision happen; as we make decisions now that will keep Frederick it’s own city, a place you will want to come back to live in.
There are two particular people who have been involved in the Green Party long before many of us who got involved for this campaign. They are Ken Eidel and Linda Lipscomb. Linda has worn out a lot of shoe leather going door-to-door with me and captaining lit drops. Ken has provided continuity with the “old” Frederick Green Party, contributing ideas for the future and a link to the party’s past. He has also been valuable in facilitating relationships with the state Green Party. Thank you Linda and Ken.
I also want to thank Don Doughty and Linda Moran for holding a very successful and challenging meet-and-greet. It brought a whole new group of people to hear directly the Green Party Wise Use Of Resources ideas. And it brought their money to the campaign. And, their votes. Thank you Don and Linda.
I want to include the Carroll Creek Toastmasters Club in my appreciation. Although a number of them had different political priorities, as a group, they helped me hone my stump speech and gave me extra opportunities to develop my delivery before a constructively critical group. And, from the beginning, two particular members encouraged me to be the Green Party candidate. Thank you Buck Reed and Herb Wolf.
Thanks also to everyone who contributed money, who did lit drops (Jaye Holly will find Biggs Street some day.) and who helped today at the polls (like Robb Tufts who spent ALL DAY from 7 AM to 8 PM at Hillcrest).
Even though we didn’t win the election, we won the hearts and minds of a lot of people. And we all have you to thank. And you to count on to keep working on making these Solutions a reality. Thank you again for being with me, for being here with me and for being great people.
Joanne-
Joanne Ivancic
-Ivancic for Alderman-
PO Box 1274
Frederick, MD 21702-0274
http://www.JoanneForAlderman.com
301-644-1395
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 